


Confession

by Jay_Lee_Leuis



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Gen, Pre-Relationship, early Leliana/Josephine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 08:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17525198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jay_Lee_Leuis/pseuds/Jay_Lee_Leuis
Summary: Josephine uncovers a dark moment from Leliana's past.





	Confession

**Author's Note:**

> Dialogue prompt fill from twitter for Leliana and "I don't want to mess this up." Took some liberties with the line, as usual.

“I have something for you.” Josephine studied Leliana as she spoke. Draped across the settee in Josephine’s private study, watching the sun set over Val Royeaux, the last rays of reddish light lingering in her hair. They had last been here almost a year ago, in spring, had shared lunch on the now snow-swept balcony. Josephine turned her back on it now, unlocked the hidden drawer in her desk, and removed a single piece of thick parchment from under the false bottom.

“That doesn’t look like a bottle of wine, Josie,” Leliana commented. There was that absurd nickname, that teasing lilt to Leliana’s voice. It would have annoyed her -- except it didn’t. Leliana sounded happy, she smiled. And maybe it was just because a diplomat so rarely saw such a genuine smile, but Josephine treasured every one of them. Even more so now, as she was likely about to ruin what had been a perfectly pleasant evening.

“I’m afraid not.” Josephine sat down next to Leliana, and handed her the document with no small amount of trepidation.

Leliana cast her eyes down at it, and that smile disappeared. Her entire aspect changed faster than the flicker of a candle flame, careless ease turned to exacting calculation. “Where did you get this?” She demanded. The gaze she directed at Josephine was cold.

Josephine had expected that this reaction. She could hardly blame Leliana. “I would never have lasted long in this city without a good ear for rumors,” she began. “And I admit I had always wondered why you disappeared so suddenly, when we first became acquainted. I was worried.” And with good reason, she knew now. 

“I had Lady Bouchard over for tea several months ago now, and she mentioned Marjolaine, a name I had not heard in a very long time.” And a name Leliana stiffened at the mere mention of, Josephine noted. “Lady Bouchard mentioned an old acquaintance of Marjolaine’s in passing, a Ferelden officer by the name of Raleigh.” Another name Leliana recognized, by the look of it. Likely she could guess or piece together the rest. “To make a long story short,” Josephine continued, “I traced a long and winding path back to a certain Orlesian fort on the border of Ferelden, where I was indirectly able to obtain that document.”

Leliana was very still. “And here you’ve just handed me the original copy? While we are quite alone in your quarters? Tell me, Josephine, why would you do a thing like that?”

“The only copy, as far as I’m aware.” Josephine smoothed her skirts. “And to answer your question, it was the right thing to do, and I happen to like you.” That wasn’t quite right, this wasn’t the place for slick platitudes. “More to the point,” she said quietly, “I trust you. I don’t know exactly what this was about, and I won’t ask. Whatever you’d like to do with _that_ ” She nodded to the document “is your decision.”

Leliana stood up. “Thank you,” she said stiffly. “I expect I’ll be seeing you again, Lady Montilyet.”

Josephine ignored the pit that had opened in her stomach and nodded. “I do hope so,” she said softly.

And with that Leliana was gone, vanished like always. It had taken less than a moment, the sun still beamed that same golden light down on the city below. Josephine stood up. She would not simply sit and stare morosely at the spot Leliana had occupied. She walked to the window and resolutely stared out at the horizon, not looking to see if she could make out a slight red-headed figure among those passing by on the street. She knew she wouldn’t; Leliana was much better than that. 

More likely than not, she would return, that was the end of it. And in the meantime Josephine had no shortage of other matters to attend to, a pile of letters sorted neatly on her desk. She sat down with a sigh, lit her lamp, and got to work.

* * * 

It was summer, and swelteringly hot in Val Royeaux when Leliana did return. Usually Josephine would run into her by happenstance -- supposedly, although Josephine had long suspected those encounters were no mere chance. This time there was no such pretense. Josephine simply walked into her study one night, relieved to at last be behind cool stone walls, and found Leliana already there, standing at that same window.

“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” Josephine said, deliberately neutral.

Leliana didn’t reply. She took a step toward Josephine and stopped, still as a statue. There was a fire lit on the hearth, despite the heat, but the light it cast was dim, only shrouding Leliana in shadows. “You didn’t make any copies,” she said, “You’ve told no one, not even hinted. And you’ve made no demands of me.” Leliana gave her a tight, wry smile, so different from the one Josephine had been missing even more than the cool ocean air of her childhood estate. “I admit, Lady Montilyet, I’ve begun to wonder if you are quite as accomplished a player of the Game as I have been led to believe.”

“I’m sure I’m better, in fact,” Josephine replied. “But this wasn’t the Game.”

“Then what was it?”

There were always a number of answers to any question. In this case, Josephine chose the most literal. “A gift, I suppose,” she said with a shrug that almost managed to be careless.

“Ah.” Leliana stepped closer until they were mere inches apart. Josephine looked up at her steadily. Left Hand of the Divine or no, it would take more than this to intimidate her. And if she felt a flash of nerves when Leliana drew something from her pocket, she was sure she didn’t show it. “And what would you have me do with this?” Leliana asked, holding the document between them.

Josephine took a moment to look at it. Just a few lines written in crude, blocky handwriting, a shaky signature that was a far cry from Leliana’s usual graceful script but was still unmistakably hers, a dark smear that was not ink toward the bottom of the page. A signed confession. Espionage. Treason of the highest order. Leliana’s position might protect her, but this would still be dangerous blackmail in the wrong hands.

Josephine reached out, but not for the document. She took Leliana by the hand, led her over to her hearth. Only then did she take the document, to place it carefully in the hottest part of the flames. “Leliana,” she began, and faltered, unsure suddenly of what to say. “I meant what I said the last time we met. This was-- there was no pretense here.”

The document burned quickly, until it was just another smudge of ash in the bottom of the fireplace.

Leliana sighed. “It feels like a very long time ago,” she said, distant. “I was with Marjolaine. I was so eager to please her. I wanted so badly not to mess anything up.” Leliana gestured toward the fire, where the confession had burned away. Josephine noticed for the first time the faint scars encircling her wrist. “That was how she repaid me, framing me for her crimes. I escaped. The rest you can guess, I imagine.”

No one had heard from Marjolaine for several years now, and Josephine could well guess. She looked over at Leliana. “Well,” she said, with an uncertain nod toward the flames. “It’s gone now.”

Leliana looked over at her smiled faintly. “Yes, it is.”

They stood by the hearth, silent. It felt as though a thick curtain had fallen over them, this room and this moment, and every second ticked by slowly, like a heartbeat.

“I could make us some tea,” Josephine said, at the exact moment Leliana said “I should probably go.” They shared an awkward laugh, and Josephine caught a flash of Leliana’s familiar teasing smile. It dawned on her how much she’d missed that smile -- she’d had no idea one could miss something so simple as a smile quite so much.

“I really do need to take my leave,” Leliana said, “but as it happens, I am back in Val Royeaux for some time. I am sure we’ll run into each other soon enough.”

“I’m sure we will.” Josephine reached out on an impulse and took Leliana’s hand. “Until then?”

“Until then.” Leliana squeezed her hand and let it go. And this time, as Leliana slipped away, Josephine didn’t find herself staring at the empty space she’d left, or looking for her from the window. This time, Josephine knew she would be back.


End file.
